And God stepped out on space, And he looked around and said: I’m lonely– I’ll make me a world. And far as the eye of God could see Darkness covered everything, Blacker than a hundred midnights Down in a cypress swamp. Then God smiled, And the light broke, And the darkness rolled up on one … Continue reading →

You are young, gifted, and Black. We must begin to tell our young, There’s a world waiting for you, Yours is the quest that’s just begun. James Weldon Johnson, Atlanta University 1894, Author, Diplomat & Poet Continue reading →

On the night of Wednesday, June 17, 2015, a now-confessed white gunman, Dylann Roof, sat in the bible study of Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in downtown Charleston, South Carolina for almost an hour before opening fire on attendees, killing nine people. CNN reported that Roof’s father recently bought the younger Roff a .45-caliber gun … Continue reading →

If you’ve been using Rachel Dolezal‘s matriculation at Howard University, one of the nation’s oldest and most prestigious Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), as a measure of her trans-blackness: stop. Just stop. Attending an HBCU doesn’t make a person black, any more than eating apple pie makes one American. Must it really be explained … Continue reading →

Determination and perseverance move the world; thinking that others will do it for you is a sure way to fail. Marva Collins, Master Teacher, Education Reformer, Clark College (Clark Atlanta University) ’57 Continue reading →

You are young, gifted, and Black. We must begin to tell our young, There’s a world waiting for you, Yours is the quest that’s just begun. James Weldon Johnson, Atlanta University 1894, Author, Diplomat & Poet Continue reading →

I confess. I’ve never watched a single episode of VH1’s Sorority Sisters. As a historian, as well as a social and cultural observer, I think it’s important that folk at least know what it is they are criticizing. But in this particular instance, there was no plot twist. The show was merely more of the same. … Continue reading →

Originally published in HBCU Digest magazine, June 2014. It is virtually impossible to think about the culture of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) without thinking about the place of Black Greek Lettered Organizations (BGLOs) on many, if not most, of their campuses. Dubbed the “Divine Nine,” after the nine-member National Pan-Hellenic Council, Incorporated (NPHC), … Continue reading →

Dear Ellie, I love to watch you in your innocence like when I’m watching “A Different World” and you smile and dance to the theme song. To you it’s just a song you recognize and like but to fans of the show it’s a sitcom representation of the experience that only a small group are … Continue reading →